How the taxi lobby has taken ‘Goa Tourism’ hostage

Recently, my family decided to take a vacation to Goa. A huge bunch of about 18 people, we booked ourselves at Candolim at an upscale hotel owned by a well-known national chain.

Meanwhile, a friend called and asked me as a favour to visit a few boutique hotels she owned for my views, and said she would send me her ‘Private’ car to shuttle me around to all her hotels for a visit.

So the following morning, true to her word, her driver and car were at the hotel in Candolim at the designated time.

My wife, my cousin, who is an architect, and I walked out of the gate and boarded the car. As we were backing out, a bunch of taxi drivers who were lounging outside the gate walked up to the driver and asked him menacingly, “Do you not know you are not allowed to pick up people from here?”

I told the taxi man in question that it was my friend’s private car and that it had been sent to pick me up. He immediately responded with confidence, “I don’t care if it’s your brother’s car. You can’t use it. You have to take a taxi from us.”

By this time, my sense of justice and fair play was working up but because I didn’t want trouble for my friend. I said, “Alright. Next time we will take your car but this car is here. Let us go. There are ladies in the car and your behaviour is disturbing.” Then he got aggressive. He said, “Do what you can. Call the police. There is no way we are letting this car move.”

In the interest of Goa tourism, and brand India, and as a person with deep rooted emotional and career investment in hospitality and tourism, I plead with the government of Goa, the tourism department and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to pay attention to this before it becomes a real deal breaker for the state.

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One thought on “How the taxi lobby has taken ‘Goa Tourism’ hostage”

Thanks. This is a very correct account of the state of the taxi services in Goa. We can only speculate about the reasons for this happening. I wonder if consumer redressal and grievance agencies established by the government could help?
We visit Goa very often and have to drive there only because of these conditions. Have we wondered why aggregators like OLA and UBER aren’t successfully operating in Goa? There are a few private cars available for hire locally, yet one has not dared to experience the quality of their service.
Like a lot of issues in India, connected with government agencies, this is just one more where we say “we must do something, but how?”